The Greek roots of the term "Catholic"
mean "according to (kata-) the whole (holos)", or more
colloquially, "universal." At the beginning of the second century, we find in
the letters of Ignatius its first surviving use in reference to the Church. At
that time or shortly thereafter it was used to refer to a single, visible
communion, separate from others.

Ignatius of Antioch - "Let no one do anything of concern to the Church
without the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist which is celebrated
by the bishop or by one whom he ordains [i.e., a presbyter]. Wherever the bishop
appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the
Catholic Church" (Letter to the Smyrneans 8:2 [A.D. 110]).

The Martyrdom of Polycarp - "And of the elect, he was one indeed,
the wonderful martyr Polycarp, who in our days was an apostolic and prophetic
teacher, bishop of the Catholic Church in Smyrna. For every word which came
forth from his mouth was fulfilled and will be fulfilled" (Martyrdom of
Polycarp 16:2 [A.D. 155]).

The Muratorian Canon - "Besides these [letters of Paul] there is
one to Philemon, and one to Titus, and two to Timothy, in affection and love,
but nevertheless regarded as holy in the Catholic Church, in the ordering of
churchly discipline. There is also one [letter] to the Laodiceans and another to
the Alexandrians, forged under the name of Paul, in regard to the heresy of
Marcion, and there are several others which cannot be received by the Church,
for it is not suitable that gall be mixed with honey. The epistle of Jude,
indeed, and the two ascribed to John are received by the Catholic Church. . . .
Of [the Gnostics] Arsinorus, also called Valentine, and of Miltiades, we receive
nothing at all. Those also who wrote the new book of psalms for Marcion,
together with Basilides, the founder of the Asian Cataphrygians [we do not
accept]" (Muratorian fragment [A.D. 177]).

Tertullian - "Where was [the heretic] Marcion, that shipmaster of Pontus,
the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus, the disciple of
Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago--in the reign
of Antonius for the most part--and that they at first were believers in the
doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of
the blessed Eleutherius, until on account of their ever restless curiosity, with
which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled"
(Demurrer Against the Heretics 30 [A.D. 200]).

Council of Nicaea I - "But those who say: 'There was [a time] when he [the
Son] was not,' and 'before he was born, he was not,' and 'because he was made
from non-existing matter, he is either of another substance or essence,' and
those who call 'God the Son of God changeable and mutable,' these the Catholic
Church anathematizes" (Appendix to the Creed of Nicaea [A.D. 325]).

Council of Nicaea I - "Concerning those who call themselves Cathari
[Novatians], that is, 'the Clean,' if at any time they come to the Catholic
Church , it has been decided by the holy and great council that, provided they
receive the imposition of hands, they remain among the clergy. However, because
they are accepting and following the doctrines of the Catholic and apostolic
Church, it is fitting that they acknowledge this in writing before all; that is,
both that they communicate with the twice married and with those who have lapsed
during a persecution" (canon 8).

Council of Nicaea I - "Concerning the Paulianists who take refuge with the
Catholic Church, a decree has been published that they should be fully baptized.
If, however, any of these in times past have been in the clerical order, if
indeed they have appeared spotless and above reproach, after being baptized, let
them be ordained by the bishop of the Catholic Church" (canon 9).

Cyril of Jerusalem - "[The Church] is called Catholic, then, because it
extends over the whole world, from end to end of the earth, and because it
teaches universally and infallibly each and every doctrine which must come to
the knowledge of men, concerning things visible and invisible, heavenly and
earthly, and because it brings every race of men into subjection to godliness,
governors and governed, learned and unlearned, and because it universally treats
and heals every class of sins, those committed with the soul and those with the
body, and it possesses within itself every conceivable form of virtue, in deeds
and in words and in the spiritual gifts of every description" (Catechetical
Lectures 18:23 [A.D. 350]).

Cyril of Jerusalem - "And if you ever are visiting in cities, do not
inquire simply where the house of the Lord is--for the others, sects of the
impious, attempt to call their dens 'houses of the Lord'--nor ask merely where
the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the name peculiar
to this holy Church, the Mother of us all, which is the Spouse of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the only-begotten Son of God" (ibid., 18:26).

The Apostles Creed - "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy
Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the
resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen" (Apostles Creed
[A.D. 360 version, the first to include the term "Catholic"]).

Council of Constantinople I - "I believe in
the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who
together with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who spoke
through the prophets; in one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church" (Nicene
Creed [A.D. 381]).

Council of Constantinople I - "Those who embrace orthodoxy and join the
number of those who are being saved from the heretics, we receive in the
following regular and customary manner: Arians, Macedonians, Sabbatians,
Novatians, those who call themselves Cathars and Aristeri, Quartodecimians or
Tetradites, Apollinarians--these we receive when they hand in statements and
anathematize every heresy which is not of the same mind as the holy, Catholic,
and apostolic Church of God" (canon 7).

Augustine - "We must hold to the Christian religion and to communication
in her Church, which is Catholic and which is called Catholic not only by her
own members but even by all her enemies. For when heretics or the adherents of
schisms talk about her, not among themselves but with strangers, willy-nilly
they call her nothing else but Catholic. For they will not be understood unless
they distinguish her by this name which the whole world employs in her regard"
(The True Religion 7:12 [A.D. 390]).

Augustine - "We believe in the holy Church, that is, the Catholic Church;
for heretics and schismatics call their own congregations churches. But heretics
violate the faith itself by a false opinion about God; schismatics, however,
withdraw from fraternal love by hostile separations, although they believe the
same things we do. Consequently, neither heretics nor schismatics belong to the
Catholic Church; not heretics, because the Church loves God, and not
schismatics, because the Church loves neighbor" (Faith and Creed 10:21
[A.D. 393]).

Augustine - "In the Catholic Church . . . a few spiritual men attain
[wisdom] in this life, in such a way that . . . they know it without any
doubting, while the rest of the multitude finds is greatest safety not in lively
understanding but in the simplicity of believing . . . [T]here are many other
things which most properly can keep me in her bosom. The unanimity of peoples
and nations keeps me here. Her authority, inaugurated in miracles, nourished by
hope, augmented by love, and confirmed by her age, keeps me here. The succession
of priests, from the very see of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after his
resurrection, gave the charge of feeding his sheep [John 21:15Against the
Letter of Mani Called 'The Foundation' 4:5 [A.D. 397]).

Augustine - "If you should find someone who does not yet believe in the
gospel, what would you [Mani] answer him when he says, 'I do not believe'?
Indeed, I would not believe in the gospel myself if the authority of the
Catholic Church did not move me to do so" (ibid., 5:6).

Vincent of Lerins - "I have often then inquired earnestly and attentively
of very many men eminent for sanctity and learning, how and by what sure and so
to speak universal rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catholic faith
from the falsehood of heretical depravity; and I have always, and in almost
every instance, received an answer to this effect:: that whether I or anyone
else should wish to detect the frauds and avoid the snares of heretics as they
arise, and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic faith, we must, the
Lord helping, fortify our own belief in two ways: first, by the authority of the
Divine Law [Scripture], and then by the Tradition of the Catholic Church. But
here some one perhaps will ask, 'Since the canon of Scripture is complete, and
sufficient of itself for everything, and more than sufficient, what need is
there to join with it the authority of the Church's interpretation?' For this
reason: Because, owing to the depth of Holy Scripture, all do not accept it in
one and the same sense, but one understands its words in one way, another in
another, so that it seems to be capable of as many interpretations as there are
men. . . . Therefore, it is very necessary, on account of so great intricacies
of such various errors, that the rule for the right understanding of the
prophets and apostles should be framed in accordance with the standard of
ecclesiastical and Catholic interpretation" (The Notebooks 2:1)

Council of Chalcedon - "Since in certain provinces readers and cantors
have been allowed to marry, this sacred synod decrees that none of them is
permitted to marry a wife of heterodox views. If those thus married have already
had children, and if they have already had the children baptized among heretics,
they are to bring them into the communion of the Catholic Church" (canon 14
[A.D. 451]).